Friday, May 25, 2012

Pignora Prima


168     -     169     -     170


Pignora Prima
Damnaris nunquam post longum tempus amicum,
Mutavit mores, sed pignora prima memento.


Never condemn your friend of many a year:
If changed his ways, think how he once was dear.
(Duff)

Source: The Distichs of Cato (4th century), 4.41. Meter: Dactylic Hexameter. The pledges here, pignora, are the pledges of friendship; you can read about the many meanings of this fascinating Latin word here in the Lewis & Short Dictionary online.

The vocabulary is keyed to the DCC Latin Vocabulary list. There is only one word in this poem that is not on the DCC list:

pignus (pignoris, n.): pledge, token

amīcus -a -um: friendly; (as subst.) friend
damno -āre: condemn
longus -a -um: long, far; longē, far, far off
meminī meminisse: remember, recollect
mōs mōris m.: custom, habit; (pl.) character
mūto -āre: change
numquam: never
post: after (adv. and prep. +acc.)
prīmus -a -um: first
sed: but
tempus -oris n.: time